Today, there is an ongoing pressing need for a sustained, persistent, and affordable presence in the oceans that will help us to understand and monitor how key issues such as climate change, ocean acidification, unsustainable fishing, pollution, waste, loss of habitats and biodiversity, shipping, security, and mining are affecting global ocean sustainability and stewardship. This requires innovative approaches to systems development, operations, and management, which is being addressed with the use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). In this worldwide stage emerges the importance and reach of the IEEE OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium.
Every two years the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (IEEE OES) sponsors a collaborative symposium to bring together those working in the field of autonomous underwater vehicles.
This is the only symposium in the world dedicated to autonomous underwater vehicles, held every other year. The University of Tokyo organized the last edition, in 2016, and it counted with an attendance number of over 150 participants. This increasing number of participants on the one hand, allows the conference to further cement its position in the autonomous systems’ eco-system while, on the other hand, further expands the visibility of this area in domains besides technological and engineering clusters.
The event comprises the invitation of keynote speakers to address bleeding-edge topics on the use, state and future of AUVs while serving to present a series of scientific publications from authors of research institutions and industry from around the world. These publications are presented in a single-track manner with different sessions covering different domains ranging from Design, Control & Navigation, to Applications.
During this edition of the IEEE AUV2018, EUMR had an exhibitor’s booth where attendees were able to learn more from the different aspects of the project (from NA, JRA and TNA) as well as grasp the different infrastructures available and how to apply for their use.